AO 6 Ch 3

The badlands were worse than I had expected, and my expectations had not been very high.

About two hours into our journey, our horses collapsed. One of them was frothing at the mouth, while the other had simply toppled with the first and didn’t appear to have the energy to get back on its feet.

I tried to burst out of the carriage, but Aurelia snatched the back of my clothes, holding me aloft.

She jumped down and inspected the ground beneath us, waving her axe and baking the ground with fire.

"What?" I asked, confused. The horses needed healing.

"The horse stepped on something, Ard," Aurelia pointed to the frothing horse. “That or something here is vicious enough to latch on and bite for the heck of it. Most spiders aren’t that aggressive.”

"Wait, already?" I stared at the horse in disbelief. We hadn't even been traveling that long. I had thought it had been over worked, but another look showed me just how bad of a state it was in. "What should I do, hover around on a sheet of ice?" I scoffed, only for Aurelia to turn to me with a smile.

"That sounds like a brilliant idea, Ard," she said. “Best prevent you from picking up anything dangerous.”

I scowled. It had been a joke. But perhaps she was right, but that didn’t make me any less stubborn as I jumped out of the carriage and onto the ground.

The rest of my anchors got down from the carriage and watched the ground with suspicion. Emlyn opened her mouth, and I just knew it was going to be to tell me to get back into the carriage.

I pointed at Maribelle. "She's got access to all my life magic. She can very easily make sure that nothing happens, or at least, if it does, it can be cleaned up. I don't like being asked to sit around and do nothing. I also don't like being babied to the point of not being allowed to walk."

"If you'd like me to show you what it would look like should you actually be babied," Emlyn gave me a long look, "I'm happy to show you. If Maribelle has your life magic why can’t she just take care of it?"

I grunted noncommittally and looked away. "Fine." I waved my hand and made a small sheet of ice before I stepped onto it. "Better? Now can I go look at the horse? You know, the one dying?"

The anchors were, in my opinion, overly wary about the current situation. “Death won’t stop you from healing it, you’ll just stuff it’s soul back in.”

“I’ll stuff your soul in it.” I muttered under my breath as put a hand on the horse and began pumping life magic through it, only to feel something sticky push back against my magic.

It wasn’t the first time I’d dealt with venom, but this was potent and I was having trouble breaking it down.

I scowled and pushed my serpent sphere all the way open before that stickiness broke free and gave way, my life magic flooding through the horse and saving its life.

The horse let out a huff and relaxed.

"That was surprisingly difficult," I wiped my brow and looked back up at my anchors, all of whom were giving me a look as if challenging me to admit that perhaps I had been wrong and they were right. Of course, it was a pipe dream for me to admit anything of that nature. I dusted off my hands. "Should we keep going?" I asked, hesitating as I looked out over the landscape. 

There was nothing to see. In every direction I looked, there was utterly and completely nothing. I kept looking, waiting for something interesting. At least there wasn’t a big army waiting for us, though I doubted they could survive in this hellish terrain.

"We should probably get some more ground before we think about stopping," Zuri said, shielding her eyes. "After all, I wouldn't put it past them to throw a few mage-forged at us. They could rush through the badlands without care for their lives."

I shuddered at the idea. "Alright. Back in the carriage then. Maribelle, can you help the other horse?" I gestured at the poor, collapsed beast, only for her to give a short curtsy and slip behind to help the other horse up.

In no time, we were back on our way, and I was melting ice in the back of the carriage for us all to take a drink.

***

Without a mage, the Badlands would have been completely impossible. I could certainly see why it was considered inhospitable for human life.

As we sheltered for the night, I had made a solid stone with a few holes right above the fire to keep out any pests we might encounter. After all, none of us wanted to get bit by whatever had gotten the horses while we were in our sleeping rolls.

Emlyn let out a satisfied sigh, leaning back in the tub and enjoying the hot bath I had made for her and the others. "A girl could really get used to this," she said lazily, looking over at me as her toes trailed along the top of the edge of the bathtub.

"Yeah, yeah," I waved a hand at her. "Just be thankful that I have enough magic to make you all not have to take turns."

At this point, half of the little room I had designed was dedicated to the bath. My anchors were relaxing in the hot water, and I was just stripping to get in myself. 

Maribelle's eyes raked over me and she licked her lips.

Meanwhile, Aurelia looked torn between watching me and keeping an eye on her battle axe leaning against the bath along with her supplies to take care of it dropped at the base.

Eva was in the bath as well, washing off the day.

The only person we were missing was Zuri, who I had let use Cyam. She was currently riding the horse made of darkness through the night, and likely into the sky, to get a better read on our surroundings before tomorrow.

After a short discussion, we had concluded that we would be able to go through the Badlands and head north up to the Barbaric Lands. We hoped at that point we could circle back past the mountains and re-enter Garrish from the north.

At least, that was the plan. If they really were burning every village against the Badlands to the ground, they might secure the northern border just as strongly as they did the Badlands, it wasn’t the soldiers I was concerned about as much as reinforcements at the level of the counselors that King Martin controlled or worse, another Colin or Carmilla.

Apparently, a rogue mage running around killing some of their most powerful creatures in a war wasn't ideal. I wasn't sure exactly what to call Carmilla. She seemed to think that she had transcended humanity and had become a god. Instead, what I saw was someone manipulating how her soul magic interacted with the world around her.

She was using her soul magic in strange ways as well as reinforcing her existing sphere magic. If it hadn't been for my ad hoc mixing of soul magic with my sphere magic, Carmilla's healing and strength would have overwhelmed us even as a group. 

Ultimately, when I had mixed soul magic with ice, my magic condensed making it silver, yet at the same time, it also caused it to generate a creeping frost wherever it struck. That had prevented Carmilla’s healing and allowed my anchors to finish the battle.

The soul lightning, as I had dubbed it, had done damage directly to the soul. I still needed to experiment with the others. My one use of fire had been explosive, to say the least. 

"I don't think he's even paying attention," Emlyn said, rousing me from my thoughts as I shifted back to the ladies in the bath with me. 

"Sorry, what?" I asked, flashing a big smile in case I’d missed anything important.

"Surprised he can be distracted with those floating on the surface," Eva looked pointedly at Maribelle's prodigious chest. They were almost buoyant, her globes half cresting the steamy water. 

"I bet he was thinking about his magic," Emlyn added in, "That's about the only thing that could keep his eyes off of the four of us." 

"It makes sense," Aurelia nodded along. "He loves being a mage. It's either magic or noses that are keeping his mind busy." 

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. "It was magic." I would never live down that thing with noses.

"You played with soul and earth when we were at the village," Eva said. 

"Yep, it was quite effective. I can manipulate metal and more importantly, I can add some metallic qualities to earth if I really try. But I didn't get to play with too many of the others. I didn't exactly want to learn what would happen if I blew up the inn.”

Emlyn chuckled. "You would absolutely blow up an inn if we let you play with new fire magic. Gosh, do you all remember? Well, most of you weren't there when he first started training… but Ard got so frustrated that he couldn't beat me that he made a freaking small mountain of dirt to trap me." Emlyn clicked her tongue. 

Then she looked at me, a teasing look in her eyes as her body relaxed in the water. "By comparison, those little kitchen knife lightning bolts you were firing off against Carmilla seemed significantly less impressive." 

"Really, Emlyn? They were better than a kitchen knife. It's soul lightning. And, in fairness, it takes a lot of magic to condense it down to be as effective as it is. Not everything's about the size." I frowned.

The whole group chuckled. 

"Sometimes the size helps," Eva winked at me. "But you don't have anything to worry about there, Ard. While we're in the Badlands, it is probably one of the best places for you to try any of this magic without being seen." 

I grunted in agreement. "We'll have to play it by ear. I don't think I want to start making explosions in the middle of the night. Nor play too much with light magic," I wrinkled my nose. Really what that left for me to work with was death, life, and dark. Of those, dark was by far the best.

"You do soul magic, Eva. What should I be doing?" I asked. The Zenovian Princess simply shrugged. 

"Honestly, you're already past what I can teach. I reinforce my dark magic, and from what I understand, there are some people that can use it. I use it as a sort of storage container," Eva answered. “That’s advanced shit you see an elder do. Then again, you’re doing things that even the elders can’t.”

I held up my hand and cast a shadow on the lip of the tub before pushing soul magic into the Raven Sphere and out through the dark side. Honestly, it didn’t take much, being far easier than even ice.

What came next was a sort of sticky, slow, malleable dark magic. The magic, in general, was not the firmest.

Eva, in order to use it offensively, twisted it around itself repeatedly until it hardened.

I stretched it open like the drawstrings of a pouch before sticking my hand into it. It felt slightly strange, but after a moment, like piercing a small membrane, my hand went into the shadow of my other hand. I wiggled my fingers about before withdrawing them and checking to ensure they were unharmed. A touch of life magic flowed through me, and there didn't seem to be any damage. 

"Well, that could certainly come in handy," I thought. I stretched the hole open even wider before sticking my head inside.

Emlyn shouted before her voice was completely cut off. When my ears passed through the pouch, someone grabbed my shoulders and ripped me out. 

"What if that closed and you lost your head?" Emlyn asked angrily. 

"Well, what do you want me to do? I have to experiment with the new magic," I said, holding up my hand as if I was innocent.

Emlyn was standing over me, water dripping off her every curve as she frowned. Her anger would have been more intense if I wasn’t distracted by her naked form. 

"I don't know Ard, let Maribelle test things." Emlyn grumbled back at me. “Or, I don’t know, ask Missy.”

"You rang?" The goddess herself walked out of thin air, a towel wrapped around herself. She was no longer hiding. The cloak was gone and Hecate stood in front of us, my mothers fake maid, the goddess in the flesh.

Her sudden arrival and the manner in which she joined us caused the ladies in the bath to go quiet.

She slid into the bath, the towel still wrapped around her. She had dark, seductive curls that draped around her shoulders and a beauty spot near the right corner of her lips that always made her seem like she was up to mischief. It emphasized the smile that spread across her face.

"Oh, don't stop on my account. But for the record, Ard can stick his head through as long as he doesn't close the portal on himself. Though, I think he's more likely to get himself stuck rather than sever his head. There's not much sharpness to the magic he's using.” Hecate prodded.

“Do not encourage him." Emlyn scowled at the goddess. 

"We both know he's going to tinker with it either way. Best he understands what's really at risk, rather than have him figure it out the hard way. Besides, he can actually step all the way through if he can figure out how to connect it to another spot in the world." Hecate sank lower into the water.

"Wait." I was nearly vibrating. "I can use this to move around? Can I, I don’t know, carry an army in my shadow?" 

Hecate shrugged. "I think so. Your magic is still a little unique. I don't have spheres. Instead, I simply use my soul to impose my will on the world. But I find within shadows, it is easier to break the laws of space. It's how I move around so quickly. Given that you can use shadows to create an independent space for you to store something, I can only assume that with some practice, you can connect it to a second space and use it similarly to my own abilities. After all, it's at least in part like my magic."

The ladies in the bath were all giving Missy a strange look. 

"Do I call you Hecate or Missy?" Emlyn asked. 

"I would answer that seriously, but I feel like whichever one I say, Ard is just going to do the other." She gave me a half-lidded look of mild amusement. Missy wasn’t really upset with me, but she liked to play coy. She had an arrogant streak in her that wasn’t going anywhere, then again she was a literal goddess, perhaps it wasn’t arrogance, but well earned confidence.

"Honestly, you're still Missy to me. Hecate is my maid, and you're certainly not that, unless you'd like to be." I enjoyed getting a slight smile out of her. But there was something more pressing to ask.

The goddess rarely stuck around for long, and was more like a cat that only showed up when she wanted attention. Well, when she wasn’t taking a spa day in my soul. 

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be, I don't know, pretending to be some sort of mysterious goddess answering calls for worship or perhaps pretending to be my mother's anchor?" I asked.

"I have informed your mother that she'll need to look for a new anchor. From now on, I will be watching over you and your group as you get closer to King Martin and the gods that are supporting him. I want to be here, ready to take advantage of every last morsel of their soul that they mistakenly leave for you to devour." She told me. “Oh and to protect you. Yeah, that too.”

I rub my hands together greedily. "Wonderful. We're going to have to get you an outfit."

The goddess and everyone else in the bath gave me blank looks. 

"What? If she's going to be part of the crew, she needs her own role. Which means she needs her own outfit for our cover. Really, I would have thought a room full of women could have connected those dots. Don’t you all love outfits?" I shook my head. Disappointing really.

"Ard, she’s a goddess, and an adult. She can decide what she wants to wear on her own." Emlyn replied.

“Yeah, but we are still spies behind enemy lines. I am not surprised that the others are better at spycraft than you Emlyn. A solid cover is the first line of defence.” I focused back on Missy. "So, what's it going to be?"

"I prefer non-combatant. I'd happily drive the coach." She paused. "Or be a maid, but I have a feeling there's fierce competition for that role." She glanced over at Maribelle, her most devout worshipper, who nodded emphatically. 

"For now, I think any information you can give Ard on his soul magic is vital," Maribelle said. “You have a place here, goddess. However you wish to design it. I wouldn’t deign to tell you what to do.”

Missy nodded. "Tomorrow, when it's light out, I'll help Ard more. For now, I think I'm going to enjoy the small luxuries that you've made right here."

“I still think finding you a proper cover is more important.”

“Ard, we are in the middle of the fucking Badlands. We can play ‘dress up the goddess’ when we actually are going to rejoin civil society.” Emlyn slapped her forehead.

I clicked my tongue, but a quick glance proved to me that I was outnumbered on this one. It was time for a strategic retreat and to relax in the bath I made.